Get real: Video-game device will shock you

SAN FRANCISCO — The must-have gift for video-game fanatics this holiday season could well be a gadget that shocks and momentarily immobilizes your hands when your character takes a hit.

Mad Catz, the company devising "Bioforce," thinks it has a winner, and some people who have tried it think it's great. But others aren't sure people will pay for a gizmo that helps virtual opponents pound them into cyberpaste.

"Force feedback" joysticks and gamepads have been around for years. They deliver vibrations, similar to the buzzing of a pager on silent mode for car racing, flight simulators and other video games.

"Bioforce" goes beyond that by producing a mildly shocking sensation.

Still being refined and tested, "Bioforce" could end up as a complete controller or simply an add-on to existing devices. In its current version, small wired pads attached to forearms transmit a mild electrical current, causing muscles to spasm when your game character is hit.

"Your muscles tense up and you can't defend yourself. You feel it as kind of a shock, but what you're really feeling is your muscles tightening up," said Matt Bennion, Mad Catz's business development manager.

An Australian inventor brought the idea last year to Mad Catz, a California company that sells peripheral equipment for video games. Mad Catz developed a working prototype and took it to E3, the annual video-game extravaganza held in Los Angeles in the spring.

Mad Catz's president, Darren Richardson, compared "Bioforce" to the electronic gizmos advertised on late-night TV that promise Schwarzenegger-like muscles simply by hooking yourself to the machine.

Some intense gamers aren't enthusiastic about the idea.

"I don't want to be giving myself electric shock treatments," said John Ripley, 34, as he waited in line at a Sony outlet in San Francisco. "It sounds stupid."

But Jon McCarron, a software reviewer who tried out "Bioforce" at E3, said he's excited about the product.

"I think it's the beginning of very cool technology that will bring video games into the tangible realm," McCarron said. "The feedback is adjustable, from very mild to something that feels like a throbbing or vibration in your arm. It's not painful. At the highest setting it's a little uncomfortable."

Richardson said Mad Catz plans to study its medical impact before "Bioforce" reaches store shelves, but he stressed that the technology isn't new. He said customers face little risk of being barbecued.

Yet some video-game players may care more about their characters' health than their own.

"Gamers are such a competitive breed," said Dan Amrich, senior editor at GamePro magazine. "Will they be willing to buy a peripheral that will put them at a disadvantage? Maybe you can only appreciate it by doing it, but it sounds like a tough sell at best."

Richardson acknowledged the product "seemed like an odd idea to us, too. When it was first pitched to us, we said, `Sure, right.' Then, when we saw it, we were laughing. But when we hooked it up and people started playing it, we couldn't get them off."

Mad Catz hopes "Bioforce" will be ready for sale by November. It will be targeted at males ages 16 to 30 and sell for as little as $20 to $30.